Jia Qingling, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), visited workers on the worksite of the Lhasa Railway Station Tuesday.

Jia, who is also member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Political Bureau, is now heading a central government delegation to attend celebrations for the 40th founding anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

In meeting with the constructors, Jia said the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, the highest and longest plateau railway project, is the most challenging plateau engineering project in the world and the first-ever "great feat" in the history of railway construction.

The building of the plateau railway project is a major decision made by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, aiming at accelerating the development of the country's western region and boost economic and social development in Tibet, Jia said.

In his remarks, Jia praised the railway builders for their hard work and achievements. He urged them to fulfill all tasks on time so as to ensure that the plateau railway be put into official operation by July 1, 2006.

On the same day, Jia Qingling also visited army and armed police there.

He brought to the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Tibet Command Area and the Armed Police division in Tibet a banner inscribed by Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is concurrently CPC general secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

Hu writes, "Let's join up to work hard to achieve common prosperity and development."

He urged the Army and Armed Police to bear the historical duty of protecting and stabilizing Tibet.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2005)